Post AxEha75CgN9btJSGy8 by pndc@social.treehouse.systems
(DIR) More posts by pndc@social.treehouse.systems
(DIR) Post #AxEMnjmA2KDYcdCeno by mntmn@mastodon.social
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it's interesting how most people haven't heard of our stuff at all! i hope this will change once the Reform Next is shipping.
(DIR) Post #AxENkAttLU7nXlgULo by simon@social.sgawolf.com
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@mntmn I hope so but machines like the ones from @starlabssystems are also repairable so shouting about it loudly is a must.I’m in a business where we’ve been selling our solutions for almost 20 years and yet people still always say, “If only this had been around a couple of years ago…” so it’s a common problem sadly.
(DIR) Post #AxEO9Pl9Em1grqd6Uy by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@simon @starlabssystems framing it positively it means that there's still a lot of people who can learn about it for the first time!
(DIR) Post #AxEQGk962X161uSCDg by farhaven@mastodon.cloud
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@mntmn Wow, that's a surprisingly misinformed person.I mean, even if we discount projects such as your's, there's other extremely repairable laptops (such as, for example, Schenker's plastic boxes)
(DIR) Post #AxEQI7IbRS7u80YUL2 by morl0ck@mastodon.social
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@mntmn funny as the framework is not really repairable but parts swappable. No documentation what parts are where, no list what to buy etc.Yes the shop with spare parts makes it easier, but by far not as good as mnt products where I can build it from scratch.For mainstream people it's okay for apocalypse fanatic hackers like us, it's not enough.I hope there will be a bit more exposure with the next because that means more funding for more projects.
(DIR) Post #AxEQcgx6ar6iUqJKz2 by thibaultamartin@mamot.fr
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@mntmn I don’t know if I’m in your target user base. I like the idea of the MNT devices but my main problems are1. The devices are rather thick. I understand it makes them more repairable, but it also doesn’t fit how I carry and use my devices.2. Battery life and power management under Linux lags far behind macOS devices, and I got used to the latter.I love that MNT devices exist though!
(DIR) Post #AxEQjwb0pSoj2dR31U by CyReVolt@mastodon.social
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@mntmn That is sort of good news thus far, because it means that the ratio of those that have MNT hardware vs those who only know it / heard of it is closer to 1. I.e. when more people hear about it, it might be more likely that they'd buy it.
(DIR) Post #AxER6W47dQMbQ2oY7s by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@thibaultamartin about the thickness, does it also apply to the MNT Reform Next? what's the max. thickness you would tolerate?
(DIR) Post #AxERecAFSxMkBDwIAi by woody@pch.net
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@socketwench @mntmn I hadn't heard of the Reform Next, and went to check it out. I use a Framework because I need an open-source laptop... It looks like the Reform Next isn't an open-source laptop, just an open-source case design wrapped around a proprietary ARM processor. Is there a reason you aren't shipping with a RISC-V processor?
(DIR) Post #AxEReh90wyLjcqOsRU by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@woody @socketwench this is confusing to me because you say that the Framework is an open source laptop, and i don't understand how it is supposedly more open than the MNT laptops?about RISC-V: risc-v processors (the actual chip) might be marketed as "open" in a to me incomprehensible metric, but they currently are not. the only difference to ARM is that you don't have to pay a license fee as a chip maker for the instruction set. there is more in a SoC than the CPU: what about GPU etc?
(DIR) Post #AxERpLBevYcqiAiJCC by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@woody @socketwench also, "just an open source case design" feels almost insulting to me, because most of the electronics (and in the case of ls1028a module, all), meaning the circuit board designs, and the custom firmware, are open sourced by us (under CERN OHL and GPL etc). this is what i spent most of my working life on in the last years.
(DIR) Post #AxERulbU8evg5ZNg6C by pndc@social.treehouse.systems
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@mntmn I suspect one of their implicit requirements is x86 and/or a serious amount of grunt. I like the idea of a Reform machine, but the RK3588 is just too underpowered for my needs.
(DIR) Post #AxERume0GmXPJfZCfA by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@pndc would an x86 reform be interesting to you or would it then have to compete with many more options in x86 land?
(DIR) Post #AxERyqFwmZ1rg2FY9Y by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@davepolaschek got it, good to hear what the roadblocks are!
(DIR) Post #AxESH9f1NMU14Ti6JU by thibaultamartin@mamot.fr
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@mntmn I didn’t check the exact dimensions, but from what I could see in the videos shaving off a centimeter would work for me.But the power management is the most limiting issue for me. I usually charge my Mac before going on a trip and I can count on it for the full day. I also use it to charge my phone while I’m on the move :)
(DIR) Post #AxESRUCTrfWZfaHrJw by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@woody @socketwench that said, i've been monitoring the risc-v space from the beginning and am always on the lookout for a chip that would actually make sense in a laptop (i.e. with good performance and not too much battery drain). so far i'm not aware of any. except in the case of system controller, we're moving to rp2350 which has risc-v cores (and their design is even open sourced on github).
(DIR) Post #AxESUhWCnwXpqO2vC4 by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@thibaultamartin thanks for clarifying that!
(DIR) Post #AxESpcNt5XXu0B85nU by thibaultamartin@mamot.fr
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@mntmn thanks for listening, and thanks for putting all that energy into creating cool devices!
(DIR) Post #AxEVwadUHqp8T8RU8G by b3nis@mastodon.social
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@mntmn I am writing about MNT when it makes sense. Spreading the word.
(DIR) Post #AxEXhDmDC8cb8XK3Hc by rejzor@mastodon.social
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@mntmn Biggest cancer to laptops I've seen is the WLAN/Bluetooth module. It's next to impossible replacing it. It's either straight up incompatible or it's blocked in firmware. And Linux is ALWAYS having problems with stupid WLAN modules.
(DIR) Post #AxEZpMPTBFZE8Yh4oC by dr_laemmerbein@mastodon.social
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@mntmn My guess is that Framework put a lot of time and financial resources into promoting their products... Yeah, that's usually it. Also, the founder of Framework used to work for Apple and Oculus and they are located in San Francisco. I bet they had a lot of money to begin with.
(DIR) Post #AxEha75CgN9btJSGy8 by pndc@social.treehouse.systems
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@mntmn I am not particularly attached to x86, but the RK3588 has similar benchmark results to my 10yo laptop (i7-4870HQ) and my 8yo desktop (Xeon E3-1245v6) is three times faster.It's hard to justify spending €1,400 to stand still when Ryzen chips exist and are at least ten times faster.
(DIR) Post #AxEha7m66tSu2LWWpM by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@pndc got it. at least the rk3588 has around 10-12W (including GPU) but usually consumes a lot less (and we don't have built-in fans). and with the qcs8550 i'm hoping to break the 10000 cpumark (multithread) barrier. btw i don't see how the xeon e3-1245v6 is three times faster than rk3588, which benchmark is that? (i see sth more like 2x at geekbench 6). and which ryzen laptop chip would you compare?
(DIR) Post #AxElk6jJFYBTVaEee0 by largo@mstdn.social
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@mntmn thanks! I had not heard if either Framework or Reform. Couldn't afford one as a broke student, but good to keep on my radar!
(DIR) Post #AxEmLUtkM5qdBCwijQ by simon@social.sgawolf.com
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@mntmn @starlabssystems Indeed and hopefully the slow swing towards people wanting longer-lasting, more maintainable, more environmentally friendly products will help you too.
(DIR) Post #AxEn8oJIyBhxZjPnUG by emenel@post.lurk.org
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@mntmn @pndc this was also a blocker for me when i was recently laptop shopping. I need the power of something like the current ryzen processors for the work that i do.
(DIR) Post #AxEo92n9EDw4RV36cy by GFOM@todon.nl
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@mntmn With the swing towards AI/ML FW seems to be making with the somehow less repairable Desktop, I'm real tempted to finally save a bunch of money for that Pocket I've been wanting (Might take a while on benefits for disability though)
(DIR) Post #AxEqJnn1XtEP0aFTto by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@emenel @pndc can you show me a laptop (processor) that you'd consider fast enough for your workload, and may i ask what's the work that you do? (i.e. which tasks need that CPU power?)
(DIR) Post #AxEsrE4X36SPzDVHDU by emenel@post.lurk.org
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@mntmn @pndc i ended up going with a ryzen 9 8945 based system. It is totally enough. I do a lot of very large image processing using code (i’m an artist who works with common lisp, ffmpeg, imagemagick, raylib, etc). For example, my current project involves animating and compositing 33k large jpgs.
(DIR) Post #AxEujLg15ixfABPMcC by claudius@darmstadt.social
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@mntmn also ThinkPads are *very* repairable. I always get the "Hardware Maintenance Manual" for any ThinkPad I buy.
(DIR) Post #AxF19CepqViSRfZDua by emenel@post.lurk.org
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@mntmn @pndc i’m also a computer musician working with supercollider, vst plugins, and a lot of cpu intensive batch sound file manipulation.
(DIR) Post #AxF19DNVARRegCStX6 by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@emenel @pndc thanks for taking the time to explain your workloads and the chosen cpu! we won't reach this perf level any time soon, but i hope we'll get a bit closer with sm8750
(DIR) Post #AxF8XpyA2LkozuIfIm by emenel@post.lurk.org
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@mntmn @pndc nice! If i had the money for a second laptop i’d order one of yours in a heartbeat
(DIR) Post #AxFIrxqdS9eKlY13eC by radiorauschen@mastodon.social
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@mntmn @mntmn I think their marketing approach is smart. They’re targeting a wider audience by making it easy to switch..without a lot of drawbacks and some colorful options to stand out.I’ll get a Reform as soon as I can run the latest Blender on it. It’s not really about performance, maybe. I mostly render small stills and use it to model things for 3D printing. 🐎
(DIR) Post #AxREEq7y9hnpbkjPlY by janetacarr@mastodon.social
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@mntmn no joke I literally talk about MNT on my twitch stream every other day.
(DIR) Post #AxRESMzpGIo9JSNG3U by mntmn@mastodon.social
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@janetacarr oh, looks like i'm missing out on your stream!